Colleges Skimp on Science, Spend Big on Diversity By Michael Barone
How many times have you heard Barack Obama talk about "investing" in education? Quite a few, if you've been listening to the president at all.
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April 6, 2012
April 6, 2012
And They Wonder Why Voters Are Angry By Scott Rasmussen
As Mitt Romney assumes the role of presumptive Republican nominee, polls suggest a competitive general election matchup between the former Massachusetts governor and President Obama. Typically, both candidates poll in the mid-40s, while 10 to 12 percent remain uncommitted to either side.
April 5, 2012
The High Court's Supremely Unethical Activists By Joe Conason
How the Supreme Court majority will rule on President Obama's Affordable Care Act may well have been foretold months or perhaps years ago -- not so much by their questions during argument this week, as by their flagrant displays of bias outside the court, where certain justices regularly behave as dubiously as any sleazy officeholder.
April 5, 2012
The Car the Right Wing Can't Kill By Froma Harrop
Imagine that. Former Republican President George H.W. Bush recently bought his son Neil a Chevrolet Volt as a birthday present. This is the car that all right-thinking right-wingers demand we hate. In their political prism, the Volt has everything going against it: It's beloved by environmentalists for getting 61 miles to the gallon. It's assembled by unionized workers at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck plant. It enjoys government subsidies intended to encourage the production of fuel-efficient cars (started actually by H.W.'s oldest son, former President George W. Bush).
April 4, 2012
Let's Give the Fed Some Competition By John Stossel
Pssst. Want to buy some Stossels? They’re my own currency with my face on them. Why should you trust them? Because I promise to redeem them for gold. And I’m reliable. I have money in the bank and a job that brings in more than I spend.
April 2, 2012
Americans Are Worrying About the Constitution Again By Michael Barone
"I don't worry about the Constitution," said Rep. Phil Hare, Democrat of Illinois, at a town hall meeting where voters questioned his support of the legislation that became Obamacare. You can find the clip on youtube.com, where it has 462,084 hits.
March 30, 2012
Democrats’ House Hopes Could Run Aground in Great Lakes By Kyle Kondik
During the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry whipped the British in the famous Battle of Lake Erie. Nearly 200 years later, winning Lake Erie won’t suffice for Democrats seeking to reclaim the House; they need to win on the shores of all five Great Lakes.
Now that decennial redistricting is nearly over, we have a relatively complete picture of where and how the race for the House will be run. While there are hotspots all over the country, the key region that will determine future control of the House is a combination of the Midwest and the Northeast — the eight states that touch the Great Lakes: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
March 30, 2012
Does Romney Have a Home? By Froma Harrop
Mitt Romney has three houses. The former Massachusetts governor would like to do a $12 million "fix-up" on one of them, a beachfront property in La Jolla, Calif. The plan is to tear down the existing 3,000-square-foot structure and build an 8,100-square-foot replacement, plus a car elevator.
March 30, 2012
Even If It Survives the Court, the Health Care Law Is Doomed By Scott Rasmussen
Media coverage now implies that the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the fate of President Obama's health care law. But nothing the court decides will keep the law alive for more than a brief period of time. There are three ways the health care law could meet its end. The first, obviously, is the Supreme Court could declare some or all of it unconstitutional in June.
March 29, 2012
Obama's Gaffe Hints at Hidden Agenda in Second Term By Michael Barone
"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." So said John Kerry, in Huntington, W.V., on Tuesday, March 16, 2004, two weeks after he had clinched the Democratic presidential nomination by carrying every state but Vermont in the Super Tuesday primaries.
March 29, 2012
If Obamacare Goes, Will America "Let Him Die"? By Joe Conason
Despite significant negative signals, the final outcome of this week's arguments over the Affordable Care Act will remain unknown until the Supreme Court issues a ruling in June. What is painfully obvious today, however, should have been clear enough long before any of the lawyers opened their mouths. The five Republican justices represent an ideological bloc as adamantly hostile to universal health care -- no matter the cost in lost lives or squandered trillions -- as in 1965, when Medicare passed.
March 28, 2012
Job Killers By John Stossel
Politicians say they "create jobs." In fact, only the private sector generates the information needed to create real, productive jobs.
March 27, 2012
Whether Obamacare Wins or Loses, Obama Wins By Froma Harrop
Small wonder President Obama chose not to delay the U.S. Supreme Court case on his health care reforms until long after the election. His advisors are clearly in the lab transforming the president's signature legislation into a potent election issue -- whether the justices leave it intact or rip it apart.
March 26, 2012
In Obama Campaign Video, It's Not Morning in America By Michael Barone
President Barack Obama's 17-minute video, "The Road We've Traveled," gives us an idea of how he wants to frame the issues in the fall election.
March 23, 2012
Ryan's Budget Kicks the Can at Timorous Democrats By Michael Barone
As I listened to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan describe his latest budget plan in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute this week, I couldn't help thinking how different things will be in Britain when Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne steps out of No. 11 Downing St. with a battered red briefcase holding his budget for the forthcoming year.
March 23, 2012
For Voters, Tax Reform Means Tax Equality By Scott Rasmussen
There's a reason President Obama, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and many others are touting tax reform these days. On the campaign trail, it taps into deeply held beliefs about the way American society ought to work and the role of government.
March 22, 2012
Sky Not Falling With Japanese Birthrates By Froma Harrop
There's one complaint visitors to Tokyo rarely make, and that is "not enough people." With a population of 36 million, the Tokyo metropolitan area stuffs an average 6,800 people in each square mile. By contrast, the New York metro area, with 19 million residents, has a density of 2,800 people per square mile.
March 22, 2012
Paul Ryan's Plan for American Decline By Joe Conason
If the foreign adversaries and competitors of the United States imagined a future that would fulfill their most ambitious objectives, it might begin with a government crippled by the House Republican leadership's "Ryan budget" released on Tuesday. Followed to its absurd conclusion, this document would lead America toward a withered state, approaching the point where Marxian dreams and Randian dogma converge.
March 21, 2012
What Is Fair? By John Stossel
President Obama says he want to make society more fair. Advocates of big government believe fairness means taking from rich people and giving to others: poor people; or people who do things politicians approve of, like making "green" energy equipment (Solyndra); or old people (even rich ones) through Social Security and Medicare.
March 20, 2012
Expensive Care That Hurts Patients By Froma Harrop
The biggest challenge for fixing American health care isn't finding more money. It's learning not to spend money on the wrong things. The solution, conservatives say, is simple: Have patients bear more of the costs now being covered by private or government insurers. The concept has merit, except for this: How on earth can we mortals know we don't need something when the god wearing the stethoscope says we do?
